What People Eat With Their Coffee

Quick, finish the phrase “Coffee and…”

Your most likely response to the little challenge probably depends a great deal on where you live or where you grew up. While coffee may be the most popular hot beverage in the world, the treats people enjoy with their coffee vary greatly from one region to the next. These are some of the most popular coffee accompaniments in the world.

Coffee Cake

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Coffee cake is typically a breakfast treat, and most often enjoyed with coffee in the Northeastern United States. The cake is often yeast-raised, and filled with raisins, cinnamon or almond filling, and topped with streusel topping or sugar glaze.

Muffins

Muffins are dense, sweet breads, usually leavened with baking powder and baking soda and studded with dried or fresh fruits, jams and preserves. The single most popular type of muffin is blueberry, with bran, apple and banana nut coming in close behind. Their texture and flavor make them the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of coffee.

Donuts

Donuts — sometimes spelled doughnuts — are small, ring-shaped cakes made of light, sweet dough fried in oil, though there are many variations of donuts available today. The most popular donuts include plain, raised donuts, glazed donuts, jelly donuts, French donuts and crullers. Two popular coffee chains — Tim Horton’s of Canada and Dunkin Donuts of the Northeastern U.S. — were originally better known for their donuts than their coffee.

Shortbread

The buttery, crumbly texture of shortbread is a natural foil for coffee’s rich, earthy flavor. Shortbread cookies are ideal for coffee dunking because they tend to absorb a lot of coffee without breaking off in the hot liquid.

Danish Pastry

Coffee and Danish pastries are the two most common components of a Continental breakfast. Buttery, rich, yeast-raised egg dough is the basis for most danish pastries, which are usually braided or swirled and baked with a fruit or sweetened cheese filling, then drizzled with sugar icing glaze.

Chocolate Cake

Coffee is a popular way to finish off dinner, often accompanying desserts and sweets. The heady aroma and flavor of coffee is the perfect foil for the sweetness of chocolate. Coffee and a piece of devil’s food cake, fudge cake or chocolate cream pie is one of the most popular dessert choices in diners and restaurants around the country.

Italian Pastry

From cannolis to rum cake, no beverage sets off the rich, creamy, decadent treats of Italian pastries like a cup of rich, dark espresso coffee. If espresso is too strong for your taste, try having an Americano with a shot of anisette and a dollop of slightly sweetened, whipped fresh cream.

Biscotti

Originally the Italian word for cookies, biscotti have come to mean a specific type of Italian cookie made with sweet dough cooked till it’s dry and hard. Usually shaped like a slice of a rounded wedge, biscotti are the Italian answer to shortbread, perfect for dunking in coffee because the dry cookie soaks up the coffee without breaking off to leave crumbs in the cup.